When a new monarch succeeds to the throne, the next step is to elect a cabinet.

Wei Zhaocheng, who reported Chongzhen's death, although he was an auxiliary minister of the cabinet, he abandoned his father and escaped alone, and he was disqualified and was directly kicked out of the cabinet.

After squeezing out Wei Zhaocheng, the Nanjing gang was very stupid, and they actually wanted to squeeze out Ma Shiying.

They put forward an old concept that when entering the cabinet, seniority should be considered.

That is, the bigger the official position, the older the seniority, the first to enter the cabinet to do things, and Ma Shiying, these juniors, will enter the cabinet later.

In this way, Shi Kefa ranks first, followed by Gao Hongtu, and Jiang Yueguang again.

A person stood up at this time: "The new monarch is in front, and the important ministers of the cabinet are elected. It should be upheld, why are all officials in Nanjing, and there should be officials from other places in the cabinet. I am not talented, and I am willing to recommend myself to the cabinet."

Everyone was taken aback, and when they looked at it, it turned out to be Liu Kongzhi, the commander of Nanjing's right mansion and the patrol of the river defense, and the descendant of Liu Ji.

Gao Hongtu refused very dryly: "There is no precedent for a lord to enter the cabinet in this dynasty, don't say it anymore."

"Since there is no precedent for a lord to enter the cabinet, then I have something unclear, who is eligible to join the cabinet?" Liu Kongzhi asked rhetorically.

"Of course, only those who were born in the Hanlin Academy are eligible." Gao Hongtu didn't know what the plan was, so he replied casually.

"In this way, why can't Ma Shiying enter the cabinet!" Liu Kongzhi asked rhetorically.

Gao Hongtu was speechless.

It turned out that Liu Kongzhi's desire to enter the cabinet was fake, and it was true that Ma Shiying was recommended to enter the cabinet.

Jiang Riguang stood up: "To enter the cabinet, you must be a righteous man and a gentleman, Ma Shiying was once dismissed by Emperor Daxing for bribery, what qualifications do you have to enter the cabinet."

"This sounds disgusting, but all of you here are innocent?" Liu Kongzhi immediately retorted.

The two sides argued.

Shi Kefa did not participate, but directly confronted Hongguang:

"The minister supports Ma Shiying's entry into the cabinet, and there is no problem in serving as the first assistant with his talents. The minister asked himself to supervise Jiangbei and command the general troops of all towns in Jiangbei to go north to recover the lost territory, and ask Your Majesty for permission."

"The Qing family is willing to quit, and I am very relieved."

Hongguang was originally supported by Ma Shiying, so he naturally hoped that Ma Shiying would enter the cabinet smoothly.

Shi Kefa was willing to withdraw, but he was also extremely helpless, after all, Ma Shiying was holding a letter written by him in his hand, which was all written by Emperor Hongguang.

However, it backfired, and as a result of a day of quarrelling, the rankings were still Shi Kefa, Gao Hongtu, Ma Shiying, Jiang Riguang, and Wang Yingxiong.

This result almost made Ma Shiying angry.

Ma Shiying also knew that this result was not Shi Kefa's meaning, but that the Nanjing bureaucrats used Shi Kefa as a gun to deal with him Ma Shiying.

With a thought in his heart, he decided to come up with a way to squeeze out Shi Kefa.

How does this trick work?

Ma Shiying connected with Liu Liangzuo and Gao Jie and asked them to write to Shi Kefa and say:

Nanjing lacked a talented general to defend it, and now there is a man from Liaodong who participated in the Battle of Sarhu, and also performed miraculous feats in the Denglai Rebellion and the suppression of the peasant army.

If Nanjing sends this person to guard it, then Nanjing will definitely be safe.

Shi Kefa was overjoyed and asked who this person was.

Gao Jie and Liu Liangzuo replied in unison: Chen Hongfan.

Chen Hongfan was idle in Nanjing at this time.

Shi Kefa sent someone to invite, and when he saw the dying old Chen Hongfan, he immediately understood everything.

He was no longer willing to serve as the first assistant, but asked himself to supervise Jiangbei.

On 17 August, Hongguang rewarded the four towns in Jiangbei for their meritorious deeds and at the same time demarcated the defense area.

Gao Hongtu and others proposed that Gao Jie be named Xingpingbo, but in view of his background in the peasant army and tens of thousands of soldiers, his military discipline was scattered.

It was only agreed that Gao Jie's generals would be placed in Yangzhou, and Gao Jie led his troops to leave Xuzhou and develop his own territory in the north.

When Ma Shiying heard this, he was overjoyed. The four towns in Jiangbei can fight the most Gao Jie, and he and this guy are just using each other with vital interests.

I was worried that Gao Jie would be co-opted by them, one

Listen to this proposal and immediately know that your worries are unnecessary.

Tut-tut, these guys are not as good as Shi Kefa! Ma Shiying thought to herself.

Then there is Sun Yingyuan, who commands the Beijing camp, although he is unruly, he is the most well-behaved of all the general soldiers. He was crowned as the Marquis of Jingnan and moved to Zhenzhou in Jiangbei.

One is to defend Nanjing, and the other is to monitor the military dependents of Gao Jie in Yangzhou Mansion nearby.

Gao Hongtu and others thought that this approach was very clever.

Ma Shiying almost laughed, Sun Yingyuan has always thought highly of himself and looked down on Gao Jie. This forced Sun Yingyuan and Gao Jie to break out into conflict, but Jiangbei could not get peace.

can neither defend Nanjing, nor win over Sun Yingyuan.

If it is usual, the two towns are not in harmony, and it can barely be said.

Now is the time when the north may move south at any time.

Engaging in this kind of work can only show that these bureaucrats are all waste.

Liu Liangzuo guarded Shouzhou and sealed Guangchangbo.

Yang Yufan stayed in Huai'an, and Emperor Daxing had already been named Dongpingbo, so he would not be sealed this time.

Ma Shiying almost laughed out loud for the third time, not because of Liu Liangzuo, but because of Yang Yufan.

Yang Yufan is the son of a famous general, and he has the Ming Dynasty in his heart. In the early days, he also intended to cooperate with the Nanjing bureaucrats to support King Lu to succeed to the throne.

As a result, these fools forgot about him as soon as they entered the cabinet, what is the difference between this and ingratitude.

The total number of troops in hand can't be wooed, tsk.

Finally, You Shilu, who is the hottest in the west and doesn't know what to do with him, You Shilu died in Yulin and had a feud with Li Zicheng.

Looking at You Shilu's current approach, he feels that this revenge does not seem to be avenged.

The Nanjing officials discussed and discussed, and only decided to crown You Shilu as the Marquis of Ningnan.

In addition, in order to show the legitimacy of Emperor Hongguang, officials were also sent to the north, and Yang Chengying was named the king of Xia, and Hong Chengchou was the prince of Jiguo, and was given a hereditary replacement.

Zhu Huixian, the princess of Yan'en, was crowned as the princess of Yan'en.

The discussion was over, and Ma Shiying, who should speak the most and who was the most capable of swaying the knighthood, chose to remain silent throughout the whole process.

Liu Kongzhi was puzzled, and after the meeting was over, he found Ma Shiying:

"Why didn't the Cabinet say anything at the meeting, and only watched them arrange the knighthood?"

"Hehe, these idiots will point at the map indiscriminately, and if I say it, won't I let them take advantage of it. I don't say, wouldn't it be better to let Shi Kefa clean up the mess, and then I can take the opportunity to take control of the cabinet."

"It makes sense." Liu Kongzhi nodded in agreement.

Sure enough, Gao Jie refused to accept the order at first. I heard that Yangzhou was rich, so I was willing to go.

Sun Yingyuan accepted the order, but when he heard that he was going to Zhenzhou, he refused to go.

The reason is very simple, when he goes to Zhenzhou, he has to face Gao Jie's threat, and he still knows how many catties and taels he has.

The most angry is Yang Yufan, your mother's group of white-faced scholars, when they need Lao Tzu, they come with their tails wagged, and when they don't need it, they are like discarding paper.

You all wait for Lao Tzu! That's how Yang Yufan threatened the envoy.

The only one who didn't react was Liu Liangzuo, who was rotten, anyway, he was given a knighthood, and he wouldn't give him a single soldier or a military salary.

This arrangement had a profound impact on later developments.

And what is Yang Chengying doing during this time?

He was mobilizing troops and planning to eliminate Li Zicheng, who occupied the northwest, in one fell swoop.